Lack of command, execution lead to Ortiz's rare inefficiency

PHOENIX -- Sitting at 84 pitches through five innings, there was a little bit of doubt as to whether or not Luis Ortiz would return to the mound for a sixth inning of work in a two-run ball game against the Diamondbacks Friday night. 

Ortiz wasn't as sharp with his command throughout his fifth start of the season and found trouble executing pitches in a few favorable counts. But considering the previous success he showed against some of the hitters due up in the bottom of the sixth, Derek Shelton felt comfortable showing faith in Ortiz after he struck out Joc Pederson twice in the first three innings and retired Christian Walker on a pair of fly balls. 

The third time around didn't bring the same results, though, as Shelton's decision to give Ortiz another shot in the sixth seemingly backfired in the Pirates' 4-3 loss to the Diamondbacks at Chase Field. Ortiz allowed a solo home run on an 0-2 fastball to Pederson and then proceeded to walk Walker after working his way back from a 3-0 count. He was lifted in favor of Carmen Mlodzinski, who surrendered two hits -- including a game-tying single by Gabriel Moreno -- and a wild pitch that allowed the Diamondbacks to take a lead they wouldn't relinquish.

"It was going to be a shorter leash on where he was at," Shelton said of the decision to stick with Ortiz, who ended up allowing three runs on five hits with a season-high three walks and four strikeouts in five innings. "He got (Pederson) 0-2, he just didn't execute his pitch. He tried to throw a fastball away, off the plate and it looked like he missed middle-in." 

Ortiz threw 62 of 93 pitches for strikes and, in the eyes of Shelton, didn't show any signs of fatigue after a 10-pitch fifth inning that saw him retire the Diamondbacks in order for the first time since the first. 

"He was efficient in the fifth and did a good job," Shelton said. "He got in the sixth and made one bad pitch." 

Ortiz said he didn't feel any effects of fatigue in the sixth, but he acknowledged his command wasn't quite there, as evidenced in his first outing with three-plus walks since Sept. 16, 2023. 

"I struggled a little bit with command, but I kept my composure and just went after hitters," Ortiz said via interpreter and major-league coach Stephen Morales. "Like previous starts, I just wanted to attack the strike zone. I felt the same, no pressure. I made my pitches and did what I could depending on the situation.” 

The home run allowed to Pederson wasn't the first time Ortiz struggled to put a hitter away in an 0-2 count. Back in the bottom of the third, he got ahead with a pair of sliders to Corbin Carroll before leaving another at the top of the zone that was sent into right field for a leadoff triple. One batter later, Ketel Marte made the missed opportunity hurt even more by plating the first run with a sacrifice fly to left field. 

"We didn't execute pitches," Shelton said. "I mean, the 0-2 pitch to Carroll got hit and then the 0-2 pitch to Pederson. We just left too many balls up, over the middle of the plate and they capitalized on it." 

Ortiz hasn't faced many obstacles on the few occasions in which he's toed the rubber for starts this season. He entered Friday having allowed just two earned runs and limiting opposing hitters to a minuscule .174 batting average through 24 2/3 innings as a member of the starting rotation. A model of consistency when called upon to start games, Ortiz has continuously delivered with quality performances, providing at least five innings of work, allowing five or fewer baserunners and surrendering one or zero runs in each of his four starting opportunities. 

While one might consider this a slight bump in the road, Ortiz did still manage to give his team a chance to win despite not having his best stuff. He found himself in a couple of dangerous situations, including one in which he escaped a bases-loaded jam in the second, and limited the overall damage to a few costly walks and the two harmful pitches to Carroll and Pederson. 

“There are always a lot of things you can learn from situations like that," Ortiz said. "With the bases loaded for example, just to control myself and continue to attack the strike zone. You always learn something from those situations.”

With Bryan Reynolds on the bereavement list, Shelton acknowledged the importance of other players stepping up to produce offensively in his absence. Joshua Palacios did exactly that by driving in a pair of runs with a bases-loaded single into right field for a 2-0 lead in the first inning: 

“Meant everything," Palacios said of the clutch hit. "We’re going out there trying to win every game we can and I was put in that position, and I was just happy I could come through and help the boys out right there.” 

Andrew McCutchen made it 3-0 in the second with an RBI double that allowed him to match Hall of Famer Fred Clarke for 10th-most hits (1,638) in team history.

The Pirates collected four hits within the first two innings, but only three more followed in the remaining seven. There were a few late scoring chances that were squandered, too. They couldn't capitalize on a situation with runners on first and second with nobody out in the seventh and failed to cash in on a chance with runners at second and third with two outs in the eighth. 

"We had first and second in the seventh and second and third in the eighth, and did not have productive at-bats," Shelton said. "We have to finish. I think we saw a team that finished against us and we didn't finish today."